Lack of an association between heterozygosity and growth rate in the wood frog,Rana sylvatica

The effect of both multilocus and single-locus heterozygosity on growth rate was examined in a cohort of larvae of the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, collected from a pond during the later stages of premetamorphic development. Seven electrophoretically detected enzyme loci were used to determine individual heterozygosity, whereas the growth rate was measured as wet mass. In all cases, no significant correlation was found between multilocus heterozygosity and mass among larvae collected at intervals during the developmental period. In addition, multiple regression analyses indicated that no single locus had a demonstrable effect on growth rate. The results of this study, therefore, provide no evidence for a link between enzyme heterozygosity and growth rate during the later stages of premetamorphic development in wood frog larvae.